NSA-level talks must go on, dialogue can resolve problems: PDP

Srinagar: Ruling PDP today said that the NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan this weekend must go on as the people of J&K were the "worst sufferers of the hostilities" between the two countries, asserting that only dialogue can resolve problems.

"It is for the Pakistan to decide whether to meet separatists or not. Such meetings (between separatists and Pakistani officials) have been happening in the past. These meetings happened during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure and then during Manmohan Singh's time as well," PDP chief spokesman Mehboob Beg said.

Beg said it was during the Vajpayee government that a dialogue process for resolution of all outstanding issues including Kashmir was initiated with Pakistan.

"Vajpayee almost clinched the deal ... the talks continued when Manmohan Singh took over as Prime Minister, but due to the developments that place in Pakistan in respect to agitation against (then Pakistan president Pervez) Musharraf, no headway could be made," Beg said.

The PDP spokesman said the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Russian city of Ufa had raised hope of a institutionalised dialogue between the two countries for resolving all outstanding issues.

"Vajpayee had shown that we can resolve issues bilaterally and Ufa agreement had raised hope that things will get back on track. Let us acknowledge that only dialogue can resolve problems; war mongering and frenzy cannot. The talks must go on," he said.